


Skin Deep

by JackOfNone



Category: Final Fantasy IV
Genre: Blood, Captivity, F/F, Threat of Rape, Xeno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-11
Updated: 2012-02-11
Packaged: 2017-10-30 22:32:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/336906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackOfNone/pseuds/JackOfNone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rosa thinks, perhaps, that she might have found an ally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skin Deep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Stealth_Noodle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stealth_Noodle/gifts).



Rosa kept her eye on Barbariccia, because she looked the most human. 

Kain had once referred to Golbez's monstrous lieutenants as "Fiends", in one of their rare conversations where Rosa had managed to coax something out of him that sounded somewhat like the Kain she'd once known. Most of the time he merely tried to force a reaction from her, or responded to her without truly listening, as though he were concentrating on something else entirely. She'd come to dread his visits -- the pain of seeing Kain so changed, so broken, was worse than any torture Golbez could have devised.

She had faith in her eventual rescue, of course -- faith that never wavered -- but patiently waiting was not something Rosa had ever been particularly good at. By herself she could do little -- the tower was crawling with Golbez's monsters, too many for her to fight alone, even if she could somehow unbind her hands and free herself from her cell. Escape would require allies, and those were few here. She had begun to despair of ever seeing Kain himself again, so deeply had Golbez twined his will around her friend's heart. Of Golbez's lieutenants, she had seen Cagnazzo the most; he came to her cloaked in the form of Cecil or her mother, wearing the shape of an old lover or a long-grown schoolmate. But Cagnazzo was a shapeshifter, not a perfect performer, and he had never managed to truly fool her...there was always some oddness about his disguise that gave him away at such close quarters. When it became clear that Rosa would not play the game he wanted, Cagnazzo appeared to her less and less. She still had never seen his true face. Scarmiglione seemed content to brood silently, heedless of her presence or any other, and Rubicante had little interest in hostages. He'd appeared once when Golbez had summoned him from some battlefield far away, his face bloody and imperious, and had registered his scorn that his master would resort to such manipulation before vanishing again on some obscure errand.

That left the Fiend of Wind. From listening to Golbez chastise Kain in her presence, Rosa had learned that she was called Barbariccia. Sometimes she had come into Rosa's cell when she was halfway between sleeping and waking -- a tall and stately woman, clad in little more than her endless river of golden hair. She didn't look like a monster at all -- in fact, she looked like nothing so much as an ancient queen in one of the grand frescoes that adorned the mage's quarters in Baron, fair and fierce, with the air of someone easy with power. Why the Fiend came to watch her sleep, Rosa did not know, but it was an oddly endearing gesture. Rosa wondered what this woman -- this monster -- found so irresistable, what alien compulsion drew her to watch her prisoner sleep time and time again but never say a word.

How often Barbariccia came to her cell, Rosa did not know, but she caught her at it more than once. Sleep was hard won -- the thrum of obscure machinery in the tower's depths was difficult to ignore, and there were a great many worries to keep her awake. One night, when Rosa was lying with her eyes closed on the floor, her bound hands cradling her head, she heard the soft rush of wind that heralded Barbariccia's arrival. Rosa pried her eyes open, just far enough to see her vague form crouched in the corner, a blur of pale flesh and golden hair.

Barbariccia perched like that on the ground for a long moment, but could not sit still for long. After a brief minute of watching the rise and fall of Rosa's breathing, she circled closer, pushing herself through the air as gracefully as a swan through water.

The Fiend of Wind landed, so light that Rosa could barely hear her footfalls even though Barbariccia was close enough that her hair brushed Rosa's back. Rosa screwed her eyes shut again, hoping that the Fiend would think her asleep. 

There was a soft rustle as something moved, and Rosa felt Barbariccia's hair snake up the curve of her spine to twine with her own. Cool fingers carded through Rosa's hair, catching on tangles and brushing against her scalp, startling her enough that she gasped, and opened her eyes. 

So much for pretending to be asleep. Barbariccia withdrew her hand but did not move, and Rosa eased herself upwards as best she could with her hands bound at the wrists. The Fiend's hair stayed coiled about them, floating in mid-air in complete defiance of gravity, trapping them together like a cage of filigree gold. They were close -- so close that Rosa could look into Barbariccia's eyes and see some strange emotion reflected there. Interest? Fascination? And that touch...gentle and hesitating, like one who does not know how her caresses will be received.

Barbariccia leaned forward and ran her fingers along the line of Rosa's jaw, like a lover might. Rosa let out a breath.

"Barbariccia..." Rosa began, and the other woman chuckled.

"You know my name," she said, her lips twisting into a smile. "That's a dangerous thing, you know. There are mortals who have driven themselves mad to find my name, and many more who've suffered for the crime of speaking it when it displeased me." Her hand drifted downwards, to caress Rosa's collarbone beneath the frayed collar of her tunic and explore the valley between her breasts. "Do you want to suffer, little mortal?" Barbariccia's intentions were unmistakeable now, and a refusal died on Rosa's tongue as the Fiend of Wind leaned forward to trace her lips across the hollow of her throat. The sensation was strange -- cool, like a breeze in autumn -- but not unpleasant...nor, Rosa thought with a brutal and desperate honesty, was it unwelcome.

"If you are doing this to anger Kain --" Rosa said, but Barbariccia stopped her with a laugh that was golden and beautiful.

"I care little for the Master's pet. Is it really so difficult for you to believe that something might be about _you_?" the Fiend said, pressing closer. "That is precisely what I don't understand about you. You spare no thought for yourself. Cecil has not rescued you, and yet you fear his death. Kain has struck you more than once, and yet you still speak to him gently. Magic flows in your veins, but if what Kain tells me is true, you scarcely consider exercising your will on others. Why?" Barbariccia's hair shimmered again, twisting around Rosa's arms, skimming the curve of her spine, brushing the place where her bonds had rubbed her wrists raw.

"Because..." Rosa said, then gasped as Barbariccia's other hand snaked around to the soft skin of her thigh, dipping under her tunic. She leaned eagerly into Barbariccia's touch as the Fiend explored her, surprising herself with her own eagerness. It felt like years since she had been touched and not been hurt. "Because comforting one person is a greater deed than breaking a thousand with cruelty." Rosa looked up at Barbariccia, leaning up to press their lips together, making sure she caught her meaning. "Because I have no desire to hurt." Barbariccia cocked her head like a bird, and it seemed to Rosa that her explanation had only confused the Fiend. Rosa wondered what sort of life Barbariccia had led that she could not even comprehend simple generosity, and whether anyone ever shown Barbariccia mercy. Rosa felt a sting of pity for her. "Can you really not imagine giving of yourself and asking nothing in return?"

Barbariccia laughed again, and leaned in closer, the hand under Rosa's tunic pressing insistently between her legs. Rosa made a small noise and rocked her hips, her head swimming. More tendrils of Barbariccia's hair snaked around her throat, around her thighs, around her arms. A part of her knew she should not give in so readily -- her heart was promised to Cecil, and Barbariccia was a monster besides, but to find an ally in such an unexpected quarter...

Barbariccia's hands flexed strangely against her skin, and Rosa yelped in pain as something sharp drove into the flesh over her ribs.

Realization washed over her, merciless and cold. _Claws. Retractable claws, like a cat_ Rosa thought, freezing suddenly in fear. The fingers between Rosa's thighs twisted, pressing down hard enough to send a jolt of unbidden pleasure arcing up Rosa's spine. All thought of offering herself to the Fiend vanished when Rosa felt the points of Barbariccia's claws against her flesh, threatening to draw blood should Barbariccia will it. The Fiend's hair tightened around her throat, stronger than she expected and painful like wire. Rosa willed herself still as Barbariccia's fingers toyed with her, closer now to a threat than an invitation.

"Stop," Rosa pleaded. "Barbariccia, please..."

"Why? I want to understand you. Find out how you work." The tendrils around Rosa's thighs pulled, coaxing her legs further apart.

"You can't," Rosa said. Barbariccia kissed her deeply, unresponsive though Rosa had become, and Rosa felt her fangs for the first time. The ache in her side where Barbariccia's claws had scored her was growing more insistent, every breath pulling at the wound, and she could feel blood starting to soak into the torn cloth.

"Of course I can. You've so kindly given yourself up expecting nothing in return, just like you said," Barbariccia purred, tracing wet circles along Rosa's ribs. "And how else do you understand a thing, except by breaking it?"

Panic rushed in to fill the void left by desire. Still terrified to move, Rosa swallowed hard -- difficult, with the Fiend's hair coiled around her neck -- and said, her voice rough and dry, "I'm no use to Golbez damaged. You know that." Barbariccia laughed again, still clear and beautiful but blackened with the unmistakeable mark of cruelty, and looked at the blood smeared across her fingers with a now-familiar fascination. Her hair uncoiled, stinging and whiplike, from its grip on Rosa's throat.

"I'll come back," the Fiend said, curling her lips into a smile. "We can play a little more, then."

"You'll never understand anything this way," Rosa half-begged. but Barbariccia leaned back, her hair wrapping around her like a cocoon as she melted into mist, leaving Rosa alone with the empty room.

She'd been right in the first place, Rosa thought bitterly. Barbariccia _looked_ the most human.


End file.
